EDMUND SPENSER.

* * * * *

THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.

  O thou great Friend to all the sons of men,
    Who once appeared in humblest guise below,
  Sin to rebuke, to break the captive’s chain,
    And call thy brethren forth from want and woe,—­

  We look to thee! thy truth is still the Light
    Which guides the nations, groping on their way,
  Stumbling and falling in disastrous night,
    Yet hoping ever for the perfect day.

  Yes; thou art still the Life, thou art the Way
    The holiest know; Light, Life, the Way of heaven!

  And they who dearest hope and deepest pray,
    Toil by the Light, Life, Way, which thou hast given.

THEODORE PARKER.

* * * * *

KNOCKING, EVER KNOCKING.

    “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” 
    —­REVELATIONS iii. 20.

  Knocking, knocking, ever knocking? 
        Who is there? 
  ’T is a pilgrim, strange and kingly,
        Never such was seen before;—­
  Ah, sweet soul, for such a wonder,
        Undo the door. 
  No,—­that door is hard to open;
  Hinges rusty, latch is broken;
        Bid Him go. 
  Wherefore with that knocking dreary
  Scare the sleep from one so weary? 
        Say Him, no.

  Knocking, knocking, ever knocking? 
        What!  Still there? 
  O sweet soul, but once behold Him,
  With the glory-crowned hair;
  And those eyes, so strange and tender,
        Waiting there;
  Open!  Open!  Once behold Him,
        Him so fair.

  Ah, that door!  Why wilt thou vex me,
  Coming ever to perplex me? 
  For the key is stiffly rusty,
  And the bolt is clogged and dusty;
  Many-fingered ivy vine
  Seals it fast with twist and twine;
  Weeds of years and years before
  Choke the passage of that door.

  Knocking! knocking!  What?  Still knocking? 
        He still there? 
  What’s the hour?  The night is waning—­
  In my heart a drear complaining,
        And a chilly, sad unrest. 
  Ah, this knocking!  It disturbs me! 
  Scares my sleep with dreams unblest! 
        Give me rest,
        Rest—­ah, rest!

  Rest, dear soul, He longs to give thee;
  Thou hast only dreamed of pleasure,
  Dreamed of gifts and golden treasure,
  Dreamed of jewels in thy keeping,
  Waked to weariness of weeping;—­
  Open to thy soul’s one Lover,
  And thy night of dreams is over,—­
  The true gifts He brings have seeming
  More than all thy faded dreaming!

  Did she open?  Doth she?  Will she? 
  So, as wondering we behold,
  Grows the picture to a sign. 
  Pressed upon your soul and mine;
  For in every breast that liveth
  Is that strange, mysterious door;—­
  The forsaken and betangled,
  Ivy-gnarled and weed-bejangled,
  Dusty, rusty, and forgotten;—­
  There the pierced hand still knocketh,
  And with ever patient watching,
  With the sad eyes true and tender,
  With the glory-crowned hair,—­
  Still a God is waiting there.